Whole Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins with Walnut Crumble Topping

I' ve been planing the whole week to bake some pumpkin pie, cheesecake, scones, bread...it is a pumpkin season still. I fell asleep and woke up with thousands ideas in my head. I even had some sketches of the future photos. But this weekend everything changed abruptly. My parents decided to visit grandparents. And since my granny has a rather impressive garden with a not less impressive butternut squash harvest, I thought it would be way better to use a homegrown pumpkin instead of a store-bought.... So, my excuses, but the pumpkin post is going to come into the world only in a week. Nevertheless, this week I have something really special.

As you can see all my plans failed (it is better to say are postponed) . So I had to make up something very quickly. And the only thing that straightway came to my mind were these muffins. These awesome, beloved in my family Whole Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins with Walnut Crumble Topping.

These muffins are special to me, because my passion for cooking begins from them. Of course, I  had attempts to baked before - apple pie was my all-time-best favourite back than, and my parents had to eat it almost every week! Also I was into making crepes - and I am still good at it (I think a crepe cake is somewhere around the corner). But back to our banana muffins - I am not sure about how many years ago it happened, but I remember they were the first thing to bake in my new muffin pan. I've made them over and over again. The recipe seems to be carved in my mind already. I know it by heart. I am sure that there will never be any unpleasant surprises with these cuties, and what is more  - since I've made them times without number, I can 200% assure you that they are delicious!  

So when I have an urgent need to make a quick and easy dessert,or I am out of inspiration and fresh ideas, I always know exactly what to do. Mix dry ingredients, mix wet ingredients, combine, bake, enjoy. 

I don't remember where I found the original recipe, however this one is  a variation of mine. Originally the recipe didn't contain crumble topping (I think I didn't know than what crumble is))). And also instead of chocolate chips it called for walnuts or pecans. In addition I replaced partially all-purpose flour with whole wheat. So make it however you like.

Whole Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins 

with Walnut Crumble Topping

makes 12 standard muffins

for muffins

130 g all-purpose flour

100 g whole wheat flour

100 g sugar

3/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

2 eggs

100 g butter, melted, cooled

3 very ripe bananas, mashed

1 tsp vanilla extract

100 g dark chocolate, copped  (or chocolate chips)

for walnut crumble topping

50 g walnuts

40 g brown sugar

30 g whole wheat flour

1 tsp cinnamon

25 g cold butter

Walnut Crumble Topping

Start with the crumble topping. Combine ingredients for crumble topping in a food processor until a mixture resembles crumbs. 

Whole Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F). Line muffin pans with paper liner.

In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon.

In another bowl combine mashed bananas, eggs and vanilla extract.

Add wet mixture to dry mixture and mix gently just until combined. Add 3/4 chocolate chips to the batter and stir until incorporated (you do not want to over mix the batter!).

Now spoon the batter into prepared muffin tins, sprinkle crumble topping and 1/4 chocolate chips on top.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let slightly cool for 10 minutes in a pan and than remove from the pan.

XoXo!